Thursday 4 June 2015

Poundland make up - punching above its price tag (if it had one) - Part 2

Part 2 - eyeshadows and mascara

In the last post on my latest great discovery of Poundland 'everything for a quid' make up, I said I would come back and update it with the results of my eyeshadow testing. Then I remembered I had also bought a mascara there as well (doh!!), so I figured that my verdict on two products might merit a post of its own.

Eyeshadows

So yes, I have tested both eyeshadows now, on consecutive days, and having tried them on skin can give a more accurate description of their colour. The brown one, Mocha 8, isn't like any of the shades in the original NAKED palette when actually applied. Yes, it comes up quite bronze in tone, and reminds me very much of a MAC pot I used to own called Sable.


Despite appearances, I am not reviewing the phone

It is not too metallic-looking to be age-inappropriate (a worrying topic to which I plan to devote a whole post sometime!), and unlike the blusher, does not suffer so dramatically from the fall-out problem, though there is still a bit, if I am honest. That is my only quibble really - it's a good colour, stays put on my lids without primer (an adjunct to eyeshadow of which I am but dimly aware), and did I say it only cost a quid? Yes indeedy! Inquiring minds may also be wondering whatever happened to Mochas 1-7, but I am afraid I have no information on that.

Yes, that is an upside down map of the Czech Republic

So that was the brown eyeshadow, and then I tried the mauve one, Vintage Rose 6. I have long been on a quest to find a pink eyeshadow that might complement my hazel eyes without making me look like a hungover hamster, and so far I have only managed to find a good choice in mauve - MAC Shale. In the pan I thought the two looked quite similar, but on skin the difference is more marked. For Vintage Rose 6 comes up a very vivid pinky colour on my skin, veering to magenta(!), and looking like a hungover hamster would have been a distinct improvement. No, I looked much more like I've been in a fight, and not come off very well. I couldn't bear the sight of myself and promptly slapped some NAKED Dark Horse over the top - a darkish browny taupe I wouldn't normally wear on its own, as it is a bit too dark for my small, shallowly set eyes. Applied on top of this violent pinky mauve, however, I believe I created a new colour that - though I say it myself - was very sophisticated and could perhaps be mistaken for one of those wonderfully subtle shades from Dior or Chanel. I still looked like I'd been in a fight, mind, but in a sort of cool Goth kind of a way. I preferred the effect to Shale on its own in fact, because of the sheen factor again. I might also mention that the Vintage Rose 6 did not have much fall out, so maybe it is the luck of the draw there and YMMV too.



Mascara

I also bought a mascara, as I say. Turns out it is the black volumising one, NOT the red lengthening one, though the choice was purely arbitrary on my part. From reading other reviews on the Net, it seems I picked the better of the two, and I must say I am beyond delighted with the mascara - I feel as strongly about it as the lipsticks in fact. I have tried dozens of mascaras in my time, and many of them - even high end brands like Chanel and Clarins - can be annoyingly clumpy right from the off. Then one brand I had been very pleased with until recently was Benefit 'They're Real!', precisedly because it didn't do that claggy thing, but lifted and separated the eyelashes in a startlingly natural and impressive way. I have been disappointed with my latest Benefit purchase - possibly a dodgy batch, I don't know - because it is as clumpy as the worst of the rest, and I may have to chuck it.

Enter Poundland mascara, which pretty much does what the Benefit one does - there isn't a whole lot of product on the wand when you take it out - a bit like a mascara you have owned for a while, say! - but it delivers just the right amount with zero mess and good separation and lengthening of lashes. Even if the whole thing ends up not lasting very long - because they haven't put much actual mascara in it in the first place - I would happily rebuy on a frequent basis, which is, after all, what we are encouraged to do for hygiene reasons, not that I have historically paid a blind bit of attention to that.


So in summary, I am a big convert to selected lippies and the Plump Up the volume mascara, and am moderately impressed with the eyeshadows. I might investigate the other shades too, as I picked those two out very quickly. My further reading on the Net has confirmed that the foundation and liquid eyeliner are also highly thought of - this range got the thumbs up from testers at both Vogue and Cosmopolitan(!), as I mentioned in the comments to my last post.

Also well worth a look is this photo of two (non-identical) twins of a certain age, one of whom is made up with Poundland cosmetics valued at £10 the lot, while the other is sporting £400's worth of high end slap! For copyright reasons, I shall just post a link to the whole article rather than the photo itself. Now I can actually tell which is which, but the difference is not worth £390, that's for sure. Think how many hero serums etc I could buy with what I'd saved...;)

Me, attempting to show off the mascara while looking like a loon

6 comments:

Tara said...

Nice pics of you V. The last one is fab.

I will definitely go into Poundland and pick up the lippie in Naked Brown and the Plump Up mascara. I will keep the lippie at work and I don't use mascara on a daily basis so a cheap one I can dispose of after a couple of months is a good idea.

Too funny about the mysterious whereabouts of Mochas 1 - 7!

I actually picked the wrong twin so good on you.

Unknown said...

Love the pics too. I will give the mascara a whirl, because quite franky, they are all shit.ish and even after more than 30 years of practise I still end up with black smears as often as 2 out of 3 times. It's the make up item I use and hate the most. Another range I can recommend for bargains is Sleek. I really like their blushers and eye shadow pallettes. There is one called OH SO SPECIAL 658 which has 2 matte and 2 shimmering pinks that look a bit bold in the pan but very nice on skin. (I have hazel eyes too). But all in all I have to admit that I am a bit of a brand bitch and I do like the luxury aspect of high end make up. There is a certain pleasure in using a lovely, shiny compact or a heavy lipstick.

Vanessa said...

Hi Tara,

Thanks for your kind comment about the pics of me. You wouldn't believe how many duds I took before I found ones that sort of show the products and didn't look too mad!

I can see those lippies suiting you, also the Choca Mocha 04 I bought first. Today it doesn't seem so red on me - maybe it tones in with whatever outfit you are wearing, I don't know. That is 04 in those photos, by the way.

I hope you like the mascara too - for a quid I shan't feel too guilty if you are disappointed, hehe!

Those twin pics were interesting, weren't they? It just goes to show that cheap products can achieve a pretty classy effect. My look in the photos is all Poundland except for a dab of Clarins foundation on my chin. ;)

Vanessa said...

Hi Sabine,

As I said to Tara above, I hope you get on okay with the mascara, but I was so relieved it didn't clump - I have come to expect that of pretty much any brand, regardless of cost.

I have not encountered Sleek and it sounds very promising. I still like my satisfyingly clunky Burberry lipstick and now own a Stila blush and some fancy eye pencils that cost an eye watering amount - but I am by no means wedded to the high end stuff.

Undina said...

I didn't try to guess which of the twins wore which line's products but I asked myself, which make-up I liked more promising (again, myself) that I would give this line a try (through you ;) ) if I happen to choose it in the "blind test." I didn't.

Still, I'm glad you found something that works for you. So far I found just 2 - not even brands - specific types of mascara that work for me. One from Estee Lauder and one from Dior, but unfortunately Dior's one started giving me an itch. I thought the tube I had got old so I tried another one - with the same result. So now I'm down to just one. Luckily, I do not use mascara too often.

Vanessa said...

Hi Undina,

It doesn't surprise me that you correctly guessed the twin wearing the more expensive make up, as I did myself. Didn't stop me using the cheapie stuff all the same - after all, I don't think the £400's worth of make up looks 40 times better, hehe.

Sorry about your experience with the Dior mascara. I have some high end mascaras too - Clarins and Chanel at the moment. I like the Chanel a lot, but the Clarins is surprisingly claggy, which is why I am pleased with the Poundland one. My friend Rachael, a former make up artist, bought it on my say-so and is also impressed. She sent me a selfie by way of evidence of the results achieved! ;)